Gowbarrow

We arrived fairly late in the day due to traffic on the M6. Thankfully our cottage was so well located it was easy to dump the stuff and head straight out after a cuppa. Annoyingly the weather which had been so bright on the journey down had clouded over. We parked in a layby nr Dockray and followed a recently renovated path down to cross the river. Steve had put me in charge of map reading and much to his and Emma’s disgust I opted to head straight up onto the hillside. It turned out this was a good move as it meant we visited lots of crags which made for easy bouldering. 

It was marred somewhat by some of the topouts being onto a sheep poo filled shelf/slippery lichen rocks.

It made the ascent to the top speed by and we were soon at the trig after negotiating some boggy/icy/slippery ground – the snow had clearly gone through a rapid thaw. 

From the top we followed a good path down to Aira Force (unmarked on the map) where we gawped at the impressive falls, and wished it was summer so we could swim in the impressive pools beneath. 

We passed yet more inviting pools on the walk along the river back to the car. If it had been sunny I’d have been very tempted as the air temperature felt quite spring like after the cold of the previous few weekends. Another really fun Wainwright for a quick stroll when the time is short. I am not particularly bothered about Wainwright bagging, but do like the fact they point you some interesting hills you wouldn't have thought of visiting previously.